The U.S. Census Bureau released their Merchandise Trade data numbers on June 10th, 2009. The Merchandise Trade deficit increased from $33.3 billion in March to $38.1 billion in April. The continuation of the economic slide will continue to worry both policy makers and businesses, but it is worth noting that the decrease in exports and imports has softened over the last several months.
Below is an in-depth breakdown of the U.S. Census Merchandise Trade data released today. This month we have highlighted 5 interesting items that we found while looking at April's data, here are the hightlights:
- Decrease in Imports was driven by Air and Other transportation types
- Exports to Iran grew over 500% in the last year
- Top container ports are suffering
- Oil Imports are down over 53% from last April
- Corn Exports are stable by weight, but value has decreased from 2008
Click here for Zepol’s U.S. Census Merchandise Trade Data Update for April 2009